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November seems to have made its entrance — gray skies and 40s for the foreseeable future. And, of course, daylight saving time bid us farewell, which means black skies outside at dinner time and sigh oh well.

I spent part of the weekend cleaning the basement. Didn’t get it all done, but enough that I felt progress happened. One of the boxes I pushed into the maybe-get-rid-of pile was one of Alan’s 45s. Before any of you squawk, rest assured he already did, and they’re going back on the shelf to never be listened to for another decade. I know I could dig up an adapter and play them on our turntable, but I’d have to change them every 2:30 minutes, and that gets old.

We also have quite a few 78s, and those have never been played in my presence. They were Alan’s dad’s, a collection he started before going off to fight for his country. During his absence, he always said, his brother Dick took the best ones and “traded them for some hillbilly records.” I pulled a random folder off the shelf; it says “record album” on its front, and that’s why we call them that — they once were stored in sleeves in these books, just like photos.

Opened the cover: “St. James Infirmary” by Cab Calloway & His Orchestra. There were a few of Harry James, playing with that special young singer, Frank Sinatra. I wondered where we’d find a modern turntable that would spin that fast, and remembered my all-time favorite 78 rpm memory.

[Zoom in on spinning record label, soften focus; harp glissandos.]

A bunch of us are in the Upper Peninsula, at my friends Paul and Mark’s cottage. Technically, we’re down the path at the Les Cheneaux Yacht Club, which is a big boathouse with a second floor. We’re the only ones there. There’s a balcony that overlooks a big bay, and out to Middle Entrance, where the big lake starts and there’s nothing to see but water and horizon forever.

We’re here, in fact, and if you look in the satellite view, I put the pin at the end of the dock, but we’re in that building. Zoom out and see the vast lake, imagine half a dozen young people in that club, late at night, probably a little buzzed because that’s what we did at night up there. We’re sitting on the balcony in the inky night, the weak radio station has dissolved into static, and someone mentions there’s a Victrola in the room behind us. An original, probably been there since that was the only way to hear recorded music. Paul cranks it up, and puts on the first record he grabs — “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” warbled by some cowgirl singer, maybe even Dale Evans herself.

The song starts to unfold, with all the pops and low-fidelity fiddles and guitars, the girl’s voice over all of it. We’re happy, clapping along where you’re supposed to: The stars at night are big and bright clap clap clap clap deep in the heart of Texas. They can’t possibly be as bright as they are here, miles and miles from anything brighter than a few weak streetlights. And in spite of being with my friends and 23 years old, and half-drunk and healthy and all the rest of it, I get a little chill. The old-timey sound of the music seems so lonely all of a sudden, reminds me how big the world is, how far away Texas is, how isolated we are in this U.P. summer colony, not even close enough to the nearest neighbors to disturb them with our singing and clapping.

It’s the music that’s doing it. I’d like to hear it again, but it wouldn’t be the same. There’s probably an audio filter I could run a contemporary copy of “St. James Infirmary” through, like an aural Instagram, that would instantly make it sound like it was sung into an enormous microphone and recorded on a wax cylinder.

That night in northern Michigan was about 30 years ago. And I just wrote about it on the Internet, linking to a Google map of that very place. Strange.

[Harp glissandos; sharpen focus on middle-aged woman holding a duster in a basement]

I put the records back. One of these days, maybe. A mix tape: The Best of Alan’s Record Box.

How was your weekend? Two more days, and we can start talking after the election.

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81 responses to “Pops and hisses.”

MaryRC said on November 5, 2012 at 2:57 am

I watched the penultimate episode of Upstairs Downstairs tonight (the final episode is on PBS next week and the series apparently is not being renewed) and was delighted to find that one of the characters, who is mentioned frequently but is never seen, really did exist. This person had the most wonderful name: Admiral the Hon. Sir Reginald Aylmer Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax. A quadruple-barrelled surname! Imagine having to sign a check with that moniker.

My mom has a box of 78s somewhere in her storeroom. Someday soon we’ll have to start cleaning it out, when she is ready to move to a smaller place, and we have no idea what to do with the 78s.

Dexter said on November 5, 2012 at 3:12 am

Your Texas story reminds me of election night, 2000. I was working the graveyard shift then, and I had a radio clamped onto my head all night, as NPR boomed in. Scott Simon himself, as I recall, came back from a break and was all excited, and began playing a recording of “Rocky Top, Tennessee”.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPM-M79Lfrw
Al Gore hailed from Tennessee, remember?

Well, as the night progressed, the mood got tense; maybe Al Gore was not a lock for the Florida’s 29 electoral votes at all. In just two hours, the son of a bitch punched in a different tune.
Here’s a YouTube of a 78 rpm record, allegedly. Yes, George W. Bush claimed Texas as his home state.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM0laoUdNw0

Deborah said on November 5, 2012 at 5:50 am

Little Bird and I reorganized the garage this weekend. This place in Santa Fe has a two car garage, one of the main reasons we chose it, it’s rare to have a garage in this city. If we had two cars here we’d have to stack them end to end and the second car would have to be tiny to fit. There are scads of shelves in the garage, it’s heaven to have this much storage space. The idea is to use this as a studio for some purpose we have yet to determine. Little bird has been refinishing my grandmother’s cedar hope chest which I gave her years ago. She’s going to paint it orange, cover the top with cool fabric and put industrial castors on it. Fine with me, I’ve never been sentimental about it. She’s finished with the sanding, next is the painting which is what prompted the reorganizing and cleaning out of the garage. I’ve been so much more physically active since I’ve been retired, it’s great.

Lovely post. That’s why I’ve always hoped someone would start manufacturing lightweight portable Victrolas. The native classical idiom of the US is jazz, and its best decades are documented on 78s. There are tons of them out there, too.

I’ve got some CD remasters of Jellyroll Morton where they’ve cleaned up most of the “aural artifacts?” and they sound great, but there’s nothing a few pops and scratches would hurt.

I loved the picture you painted while cleaning the basement and remembering good times in the U.P. I could see it all as you told the tale. Beautiful.

Julie Robinson said on November 5, 2012 at 8:18 am

It was a chores catching up weekend; payment for my long vacation. I tackled the coat closet with the goal of finding a pair of matched gloves, and just in time since we had a hard frost last night. Cold is forecast all week but accompanied by the sun, thank goodness.

We have a few hundred CDs and approximately 250 vinyl albums. I have exactly one 45 rpm record, a copy of She Loves You b/w I Wanna Hold Your Hand, my mom and dad bought me for an Easter gift when I was about 12. We have several versions of St. James Infirmary, all by Van Morrison, except for one album cut by Buffy Ste. Marie.

Muscallonge Bay on the Google Map. I presume this is an alternate spelling of Muskie, the inedible fish made entirely of bone. Still, they’re very strong and fight like a bastard on the end of a fishing line. Oh, and a copy of Curtis Live came in the mail this weekend, to replace a hopelessly scratched vinyl. I consider this as fine as any live album by anyone, anywhere, any time.

Dorothy said on November 5, 2012 at 9:13 am

When my father-in-law died 3 years ago we found several boxes of 78 RPs. There were even some Japanese records among them (presumably purchased by Mike’s aunt who had served there when she was an Army Major.) Mike lugged them back to Ohio, did a little research on eBay and determined it wouldn’t be worth trying to sell them. This past March we finally found a home for them. We donated the majority to the Ohio History Museum. The guy there was delighted to have them. Mike held on to a few of the jazz albums and we keep forgetting to take them up to campus with us when we attend a jazz concert (the most recent of which was just last night!!) Professor Ted Buehrer said he’d be happy to have them. The students put on a very enjoyable show. One of the trumpeters was especially good. I didn’t even mind missing the end of the Steelers/Giants game, they were that entertaining.

During the time I worked downtown and out of the newspaper biz (seems like a lifetime ago), I would either walk or sometimes take a cab to the Jazz Record Mart, which used to be on Wabash (it’s now around the corner on Illinois) and just sift through the mountain of 78s they had there. I bought several, some of which hang on the wall of my living room — a Benny Goodman V-Disc, one of the original 12-inch Blue Note recordings (its a Sidney Bechet group), a Savoy recording of Erroll Garner and a Don Byas record on the Jamboree label. I have others that I’ll sometimes play on a little portable turntable I got many years ago when Restoration Hardware used to sell cool things like that.

My dad owned a few albums of 78s — all Sinatra recordings on Columbia from the 1940s — unfortunately all destroyed by us careless kids who were amazed at how easy they broke. I can’t believe my dad didn’t kill us.

Bob (not Greene) said on November 5, 2012 at 9:34 am

*it’s

MichaelG said on November 5, 2012 at 10:24 am

There are fingerprints all over that lake picture.

brian stouder said on November 5, 2012 at 10:28 am

FYI – Jolene posted a superb link at the end of yesterday’s thread, from The Atlantic, which takes a look at Mitt’s closing argument: President Obama is a vengeful angry black man, and people who vote for him don’t love their country as much as people who vote for Mitt.

Indeed, although the article doesn’t go the next step, I heard Mitt on Saturday say that Romney voters will vote for him even despite that he hasn’t promised them more money and benefits (unlike the black guy, y’know); so really, yet again, we see that Romney voters display TRUE love of their country by their votes for the governor, rather than the disgusting, self-centered shiftlessness that the lazy panhandlers who support the president display.

And indeed, we all know that if the president is re-elected it’s because of those same shiftless people who have all day to stand in line to vote, when really, they shouldn’t be allowed to vote in the first place.

PS – I’ll happily accept the president’s re-election regardless how small the final margin is…..

but I hope President Obama is re-elected by an astonishingly large margin (both in the popular and the electoral vote); that his campaign makes the rubble bounce – and causes Mitt to cry like a baby.

in 2010 the tea party asswipes next door to the Democratic party office here in Person County hung a couple of teabags on the door handle the morning after the election. I thought it was small minded of them, but what the hey. The recession ate their business shortly after that, and they had to drive somewhere else to find work in their rebel flag encrusted dorkpanzer. Maybe they found some kindred souls in Alabama, or some other republic of fearful shites.

My only regret is I neglected to save my bull Llewd’s rotten ball sack when it finally dropped after we banded him earlier this year, so I could freeze it and hang it to thaw on the handle of the Republicans’ office Wednesday morning, regardless of the outcome.

There is no shortage of things to seriously dislike about Willard Windsock. One aspect of his campaign persona it would be impossible to understate is the unadulterated sickishness of RMoney’s faux outrages.

Oh, and Walking Dead was ludicrously bad last night. I’ve been militating for killing off Lori and Carl for quite a while now. Lori’s death scene, when it finally came, was as stupidly badly-acted and lugubriously histrionic as anything I could have imagined ahead of time. Now, T-Dog and Carol, that’s a different story, and now the brave little band that could (survive, that is) has no black members and no very good female actors. And does anybody think that baby isn’t just Carl’s half sibling? Shane is that baby’s daddy. The writers could do a lot to redeem themselves by having Killer Carl shuffle off that mortal coil. Godawmighty what an annoying character. And if Andrea doesn’t listen to Michonne on the subject of the Governor pretty soon, she deserves to come to a very bad end.

On Upstairs, Downstairs, what is required is nothing less than the public hanging of Lady Persephone for treason, and the dickhead Lord Holland’s retirement in abject disgrace from Whitehall, for consorting with the traitorous, homewrecking bitch.

What idiot thought a Red Dawn remake a good idea in the current atmosphere of American jingoism?

Beautiful here this weekend so we went on our semi-annual fall hike in Yellowstone (no hunters). Slough Creek trail — gorgeous meadow with the big peaks behind Cooke City gleaming in the distance. Had one uncomfortably close encounter with a bison as we were bushwhacking, but didn’t see any other wildlife — no elk, no deer, no bears (thankfully none close up, but we usually see some in the distance). A bald eagle and a big golden– oh, and the world’s cutest ermine, who flirted with us like some Disney character. Pink nose, pink ears … best of all though — no people! Not a one. Only bummer was the 2 mile hike in and out where you really did have to use the trail — it was frozen and slick and made both of our backs hurt like old people by the time we got out.

Then washed all my floors on Sunday. The fires have been over for ages, but boy, the soot was still here …

Sue said on November 5, 2012 at 11:08 am

I remember my mom doing one of those ’60s crafts where you take an old album and put it on top of a can, in a low-heat oven. After 15 minutes or so, the album has melted in an interesting pattern but left a flat bottom. Paint it and voila! you have a lovely serving bowl.
Really. You could make several and give some as gifts. Maybe you could display it right next to the Christmas angel you made using a Reader’s Digest and a styrofoam ball.

Brian; it’s just as well my wife would never have let me put that rot in the freezer, because Llewd’s nuts on the door might have crossed the fine line between mere vandalism and “deploying an improvised bioweapon”.

Sue said on November 5, 2012 at 11:15 am

Re the election:
The shenanigans and mistakes in Ohio and Florida scare me, not to mention the upheaval in hurricane states, and I am in the camp that believes we will not have a declared winner for awhile. I don’t think Brian will get his large margin and just hope nothing has to be decided by Roberts & co.
And I’m surprised no one is discussing this (courtesy of the NYTimes):
“The prospect of a deeply engaged vice president was described in interviews with campaign aides, close House colleagues and the few times Mr. Ryan has discussed his potential future job. Asked by a reporter last month if he expected the kind of broad responsibility for the economy that Mr. Cheney held for national security — as an aide suggested — Mr. Ryan said, “I do.” “

took a tender young doe over the weekend, gonna buy some canning jars on the way home tonight and start the experiment.

Sherri said on November 5, 2012 at 11:51 am

A better song for Scott Simon to have played for Al Gore would have been “The Tennessee Waltz”, especially since even had he won, he wasn’t going to win Tennessee. Besides just being a prettier song and the state song of Tennessee, it’s about losing your true love to another.

Some Republicans seem prepared to blame a potential defeat for Mitt Romney on the storm, and the embrace of Mr. Obama by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and other public officials. The theory has some appeal. The last three days of polling have brought what is almost certainly Mr. Obama’s strongest run of polling since the first presidential debate in Denver. Mr. Obama led in the vast majority of battleground-state polls over the weekend. And increasingly, it is hard to find leads for Mr. Romney in national surveys — although several of them show a tie.

And the close

Pennsylvania has more merit as a last-ditch tactical play for Mr. Romney — but it is another case where the characterization of the race as having tightened relies in part on a selective reading of the evidence. Between Saturday and Sunday, five polls of Pennsylvania had Mr. Obama an average of four points ahead there, and they did not show much of a trend, with Mr. Obama having led by the same amount on average in the previous editions of the same surveys.

Bring it, baby. And I’m gonna enjoy dipping into Fox News when Rachel goes to commercial, just to watch ‘em die (as Johnny Cash sings, on one of our many, many vinyl 33 1/3 LPs, which we’re going through at mom’s house)

Might they be charged with false imprisonment and child endangerment? I’m not a lawyer, but what do you think?

Connie said on November 5, 2012 at 12:53 pm

Just like Prospero I have exactly one 45 rpm record, a copy of Blueberry Hill given to me by the lady I babysit for. It is still floating around somewhere.

Scout said on November 5, 2012 at 12:54 pm

I keep fivethirtyeight tabbed for instant refresh every time some yapping head carries on about too close to call, recounts, and etc etc etc. I’ll take those 85-15 odds for Obama’s re-elect as a good sign that the whole blah-de-blah-blah is ratings driven and signs of desperation from Republican dreams of ousting the black from the white house circling the drain.

Bitter Scribe said on November 5, 2012 at 1:03 pm

What idiot thought a Red Dawn remake a good idea in the current atmosphere of American jingoism?

I had to sit through the original because it was released during my 15 minutes or so as a movie critic for some forgotten suburban rag. Of all the reviews I wrote, that was the only one I got guff for. It was a fairly vicious pan (the only movie I ever gave zero stars) and I ended it with, yes, a criticism about releasing it in the then-current political atmosphere. (It came out shortly after Raygun’s hilarious “we start bombing in 15 minutes” live-mike gaffe.)

It just boggles the mind that anyone could have enjoyed that thing on its own terms, and not in a so-bad-it’s-great way. It’s even worse that they remade it. Who’s the enemy this time…the Chinese?

Slate says Rudy Giuliani, the famous cross-dresser and padrone of the fearsome criminal Bernie Kerick is Willard’s new attack dog , now that the fat tub o’guts has abandoned him. Mittens and the creeps around him remind me more all the time of the Nixon gang.

@BitterScribe, @Prospero: Red Dawn was one of the first movies to be rated PG-13, along with Gene Wilder’s romantic comedy The Woman in Red. The enemies were Soviet and Cuban troops. That movie played often on HBO in the summer of 1985, and what made an impression on me as a nine-year-old were the opening scenes, of paratroopers quietly landing just outside a high school. The teacher ventures outside to find out what’s going on, and is promptly shot dead. Then the soldiers shoot up the place and fire rockets at the school buses.

Brandon said on November 5, 2012 at 1:41 pm

In the remake, the enemy is North Korea.

nancy said on November 5, 2012 at 1:51 pm

My colleague Ron and I are planning a bad-movie date to see the remake. We used to go to bad movies a lot when we both lived in Fort Wayne, but time and circumstance put an end to that. So we’re thinking now’s the time to revive the tradition, and this is the movie to do it with. After the election we’re both going to have some comp time to burn, so we’re thinking an afternoon matinee in Lansing.

Bitter Scribe said on November 5, 2012 at 1:56 pm

Slate says Rudy Giuliani, the famous cross-dresser and padrone of the fearsome criminal Bernie Kerick is Willard’s new attack dog , now that the fat tub o’guts has abandoned him.

This is beyond astonishing. Someone who appointed a criminal in thrall to the Mafia as his police commissioner has the nerve, the utter gall, to call anyone else incompetent? Has the man had his sense of shame surgically removed?

Bitter Scribe said on November 5, 2012 at 2:01 pm

In the remake, the enemy is North Korea.

Yes, a country that can barely feed itself is certainly capable of a land invasion of a country a dozen times its population, with the world’s most powerful military.

There’s willing suspension of disbelief, and then there’s idiocy.

nancy said on November 5, 2012 at 2:04 pm

Well, as it was shot, the enemy was Chinese. Part of the reason for its delay — it was shot here in 2009 — is that some studio bigwig went ballistic over the idea such a lucrative market for American films was playing the part of the bad guys. It was digitally scrubbed and overdubbed, etc., to make them Korean. There’s willing suspension of disbelief, and then there’s Hollywood.

Bitter Scribe said on November 5, 2012 at 2:31 pm

Nancy, thanks for that bit of information. That’s hilarious! It’s the best bit of after-the-shoot revisionism since the alleged attempts to cover up Bruce Willis’s bald spot.

I was wondering why it took the movie so long to get released. I thought maybe someone had come to his senses, but I guess not.

…some studio bigwig went ballistic over the idea such a lucrative market for American films was playing the part of the bad guys.

Reminds me of what happened to “Master and Commander.” Apparently (I have this secondhand) the enemy in the book was an American ship, but when the movie was being shot, it was changed to French. Know thy audience.

My brother Mark and I just made a trip to the recycling center and en route discussed the North Korean threat to the USA portrayed in the remade Red Dawn. M. wanted to know how the hermit nation soldiers would get here. We decided on a bridge of sacrificed human bodies across the Sea of Japan and the Pacific. Like Mara Bunta do in Leiningen vs. the Ants. Anyway, Chinese, Korean, fortunately they all look alike to us.

Basset — just make sure to use a pressure canner. I have friends here who put up very basic venison or elk stew meat — great for a quick mid-winter dinner. Cook up some noodles, sautee an onion, add canned meat and maybe a little sour cream and instant stroganoff. Yum. But it has to be pressure canned or you’ll kill everyone …

LAMary said on November 5, 2012 at 4:11 pm

Bernie Kerik…another good Paterson, NJ native. We so rock.

brian stouder said on November 5, 2012 at 4:14 pm

Journalists alert!! Journalists alert!! Journalists alert!!

From Prospero’s excellent link…Nate Silver’s inappropriate act was to make a $2000 bet (with the proceeds going to the American Red Cross) with Joe Scarborough, regarding tomorrow’s election.

(with emphasis added)

But whatever the motivation behind it, the wager offer is a bad idea – giving ammunition to the critics who want to paint Mr. Silver as a partisan who is trying to sway the outcome. It’s also inappropriate for a Times journalist, which is how Mr. Silver is seen by the public even though he’s not a regular staff member. “I wouldn’t want to see it become newsroom practice,” said the associate managing editor for standards, Philip B. Corbett. He described Mr. Silver’s status as a blogger — something like a columnist — as a mitigating factor.

A couple a’ ink-stained scribblers on the newsroom floor made a bet??!! – And THIS is shocking, shocking I say?

This is what makes Erin Andrews great. She’s unflappable as this fucking idiot reporter drools out his words like he was a horny teen age boy. To her credit, Erin was cool, but this is no way to interview a national superstar reporter. It made me cringe.

Nothing brings me much more momentary joy than cruel and curt critical mockery of an old biddy pompous ass like Peggy Noonan. The nasty old Raygun vestal really gets my Irish up by having the gall to quote Walker Percy. If she read any of the great physician novelist and brilliant Christian thinker, she sure as shit didn’t understand a word of it about the responsibilities with which humans were endowed by their Creator toward one another. So Peggy, STFU and keep your breathless aubergine prose to yourself, and read ‘em an weep tomorrow night when you will have time to plan your withdrawal from your incredibly useless and annoying public life.

brian stouder said on November 5, 2012 at 5:42 pm

Dexter – that was almost painful. But as soon as you see the reporter’s 1971-style sideburns, you can just see it comin’

Bitter Scribe said on November 5, 2012 at 5:55 pm

I still can’t get over that ridiculous Noonan column where she asserted that the way for Romney to turn around his campaign was to hold a big rally in New York City.

Sherri said on November 5, 2012 at 5:55 pm

When you consider that Erin Andrews was the victim of a stalker, that idiot was being especially obnoxious.

Gotta disagree with all the boys on Erin Andrews, she bugs me. And my question to her is this, why in the world is SHE being interviewed? Nope, when you want a clip of a cute sideline reporter you gotta go with this Suzy Kolber/Joe Namath classic:

We had a couple of women knock on our door this morning for Obama/Biden. We were so excited to tell them that we had both voted for them already, Little Bird by early voting here and me by absentee in Chicago. We have only had those folks and another group representing a local Dem knock on our door since I arrived, I guess the Republicans have determined that it’s not worth it around here. My guess is they are putting their ground work in the surrounding hills where the folks with money live.

We painted the first coat of primer on the cedar chest in the garage today, besides our usual Monday complete housecleaning and laundry day. Tomorrow we are taking it easy because I suspect I may need all my energy tomorrow night when the election results come in. I hope not to be yelling and screaming at the TV. We have an ample supply of wine for the occasion.

nancy said on November 5, 2012 at 6:33 pm

I remember when I was 13, I thought Joe Namath was the most beautiful man alive. Now, aside from his blue eyes and chin-dimple, I honestly can’t see a single thing about him that’s even remotely attractive. And he sounds like a hick, too.

Scribe, It wasn’t that great a leap from pretty boy Jim Lampley, a highly hyped early version sideline reporter (and then he got busted with a nickkel bag of pot–horeur.

LAMary said on November 5, 2012 at 7:10 pm

“I still can’t get over that ridiculous Noonan column where she asserted that the way for Romney to turn around his campaign was to hold a big rally in New York City.”

No. Did she really? Was she drunk? That has to be the most stupid idea I’ve heard in a while. Stupid in so many ways. Maybe Mitt should spend the night in one of those dark Rockaway apartments in the projects. You know the ones where people are afraid to leave because they know they’ll get looted? They stay inside and listen to people checking their doorknobs to see if the door is locked. Go get ‘em Mitt.

I wish I were as sanguine as most of you about tomorrow. Maybe it’s the coffee talking here but I am amped and worried. As Scout said, Nate Silver and his fabulous geekitude have been my lifeline to calmness and sanity for the last month, and if it turns out he gave me false hope… Be right, Nate, be right!

Kaye said on November 5, 2012 at 8:52 pm

Chewing gum is not an attractive look for Erin Andrews. Or anyone else on camera or working with the public IMHO.

Feeling real good about Obama winning with enough of a margin that recounts are not needed. Saw him speak in CMH earlier today, he was energetic and sounded great. Heard Mitt on the radio on the way home; yes, he is also in CMH, and he sounded tired and over it all.

Nate Silver makes stats much sexier than I would have ever imagined they could be. I have enjoyed reading his blog.

MarkH said on November 5, 2012 at 9:11 pm

Those of you latching onto the tweeted story of Romney staffers keeping freezing children from leaving a Bucks County rally as true: well, not so much. Turns out security was the big concern, and no mother was told this, just one staffer smarting off to a reporter. Corrections were issued by the reporters in question, but no matter….

Brian, the challenge was a $1,000 bet from Silver to Scarborough not, who by the way, is now betting that Obama will indeed win tomorrow night. Knowing where the loser would have to send the money (the Red Cross), that is an easy bet to make. Were I Scarborough, I would have upped the bet to $5,000. No matter what, a good cause wins that one. Definitely worth a loss.

And Nicki Minaj, although her endorsement may have been performance art. We’re still not sure.

LAMary said on November 5, 2012 at 10:10 pm

It must have taken Mr. Vanderleun a really long time to type all those names. And for what? Should I think Romney is a good guy because all those military industrial complex types endorse him? Mr. Vanderleun? Ik geloven niet. Ik denk je bent gek.

Bitter Scribe said on November 5, 2012 at 10:16 pm

Well, if Romney is good enough for Lieutenant General Harold Blot, he’s good enough for me. Too bad I already voted.

Kirk said on November 5, 2012 at 10:27 pm

Anybody have a list breaking down retired gas-station attendants’ endorsements?

Sherri said on November 5, 2012 at 10:31 pm

I found this excerpt from Thomas Ricks’ latest book that ran in the Atlantic interesting. It’s about the culture of mediocrity that has infested the general officer ranks in the Army.

I’ll take one Colin Powell over all those other guys. More to the point one Ted Nugent endorsement is enough to negative any half a million other endorsements.

brian stouder said on November 5, 2012 at 10:40 pm

Well, and not for nothing – it’s worth noting that when the constitutional government of the United States was in a state of complete breakdown, in 1864, the incumbent president’s opponent was none other than Major General George Mclellan, the former General in Chief of the Union Armies.

But – despite that – the troops themselves largely voted for the president.

I’m betting that a majority of the men and women who served their country in Iraq (for example) will vote for the president who successfully ended that war, even despite what a mass of retired, pensioned, brass-buttoned folks might think… but we’ll see

LAMary said on November 5, 2012 at 11:12 pm

Don’t forget Meat Loaf.

Kirk said on November 5, 2012 at 11:17 pm

And Jack Nicklaus and the Marshall Tucker Band and noted genius Hank Williams Jr.

I just saw RMoney on TV claim to be a Pats fan. Busslshit Mittens, you don’t no dick about football. And choosing the Pats is invoking the tuck rule. Greatest instance of born on third and sure you hit a triple in the history of sports. And that first Super Bowl, refs and Bledsoe won that won, not Brady, you privileged aholes.And all those guys that endorsed President Obama were the bosses of all those nonentities that never were entrusted with actual authority. And then ther’s that dash lady that made Clueless and was never in another movie. Michael Moore made an interesting point on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show about GOPers and vote suppression. That’s just originalism, right. The Constitution didn’t give black people or women the right to vote and Scalito doesn’t think they should vote these days. Rick Scott is out and out cheating in FLA. How is that asshole not a permanent resident of a Club Fed somewhere after stealing all that money from taxpayers? GOPers don’t think any of that shit is illegal, because they think they have some sort of divine right. And sure ain’t no black man should be President. Scum of the earth.

Obviously, I’m not reading those generals and majors endorsing RMoney. It’s actually illegal for any active military personnel to endorse a candidate, but GOPers think that doesn’t apply to them. Does that list include the whacko general that saw the face of Satan arise over Iraq back in Desert Storm. These bastards are unbalanced.

Mary, there is this command c, command v you know. God knows where that fool cut and pasted that questionable bullshit, but he sure didn’t typ it. And I’d say the guys that ran the show are more credible. Meanwhile, I doubt anybody on that asinine list will lose their VA med benefits when Ayn Ryan’s $11billion VA cuts kick in. Flaming fracking assholes.

Kaye said on November 5, 2012 at 11:30 pm

The Marshall Tucker Band – that was the counter to The Boss and Jay-Z. Out of touch much?

Kirk said on November 5, 2012 at 11:32 pm

Well, Andy Williams wasn’t available, Kaye.

Catherine said on November 6, 2012 at 12:03 am

Brian @75, that is one of the more stunning chapters of Lincoln history. And did you know (I just learned) that Alexander Stephens, who became VP of the Confederacy, had a Cabinet position dangled in front of him by Lincoln in 1860? What would have happened if he’d taken it? Who is in Stephens’ 21st century role — Joe Lieberman? Chris Christie?